Category Archives: Digital Workplace

My Best of #CitrixSynergy 2017

The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix.

Shortened Names
CITRIX USER GROUP COMMUNITY – cugc
HYPER CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE – hci

Introduction
Its my 5th #CitrixSynergy and this is def one of the best Synergy’s I have ever had the privilege of watching virtually from London, England. Why not in person? I prefer to watch virtually as I am to consume more content faster and translate that into content to update Citrix partners/customers in a timely manner at high level and tech deep dive where required in particular areas or topics. Finally this blog post will most likely change over the next 2-3 weeks as I consume all of the Synergy 2017 content as when/how I can.

My Highlights of the Key Notes
Vision Keynote

– 4:45 Citrix User Group Community – https://www.mycugc.org THANK YOU! Join the community today its powered by some of the most passionate Citrix and Technology advocates from around the global!
– 11:00 Red Bull Racing I’m not going to say anything you need to watch it!
– 21:45 Cloud powers the world
– 27:00 Digital Frontier Companies
– 39:00 Citrix Secure Digital Workspace with a software-defined preimeter
– 40:57 Citrix Workspace Services and a brief demonstration by Citrix’s CEO
– 42:25 SD-WAN / Gateway / WebApp Firewall / DDoS (NS 12+) as a Service
– 47:35 Citrix Analytics Service
– 1:01:00 “Better Together” and video message from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
– 1:12:25 Citrix + Google Chromebook (Skype for Business, Office365 and much more…)
– 1:18:00 Healthcare customer story “Partners Healthcare”

Technology Keynote

– 22:00 Unified Workspace (its Adaptive and Contextual by device/location and it changes the users published resources and its access type!) which brings together some of the most crucial aspects of todays modern apps, desktops, data & your location in a single view with casting capabilities but not demoed as instead instead*
– 29:00 *Workspace IoT (SmartSpaces) demonstration with a users own mobile phone enables an auto login to a Win 10 VD at guest location including welcoming the user based upon his/her smart phone used as there identity. Security people feel free or you will be going nuts right now!
– 32:30 Its all about layering you guessed it Citrix App Layer enabling IT to say YES! Note demo was demoed using a Samsung DEX check it out – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2017/03/29/instant-desktop-computing-from-the-new-samsung-galaxy-s8-smartphone/
– 39:40 Workspace Appliance Program e.g HCI
– 42:35 Protect against Zero day attacks with XenServer and BitDefender which is available but is something which Citrix announced on 21/06/2016 yes thats right 2016 entitled “A Revolutionary Approach to Advanced Malware Protection” – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2016/06/21/a-revolutionary-approach-to-advanced-malware-protection/ 21/06/2016 yes 2016!
– 47:00 Brad Anderson Corporate Vice President of the Enterprise Client & Mobility @Microsoft discusses shortly and then prefers to demonstrates our joint Citrix + Microsoft “Better Together” capabilities in Mobility, Virtualisation delivery from Azure and more.
– 1:01:38 Digital Jungle discussion its def worth your time if you about security and managing the experiences of your users workspace!
– 1:47:25 Vision of how the Digital Workspace is going to evolve

Citrix Synergy TV Breakout Sessions
The following are my current top sessions to watch in no particular order that I believe you’ll gain a lot of value out of watching BUT note that this may change as I continue to consume more of the on-demand content from Synergy 2017.

– SYN318 A to Z: best practices for delivering XenApp, XenDesktop – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnnZTKBy18c&feature=youtu.be

– SYN111 – What’s new with Citrix Cloud and what’s to come – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-UunHGKqLY

– SYN120 – NetScaler SD-WAN updates – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdqIkCb86uU

– SYN103 – Citrix App Layering – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBYoVeAYnSA

– SYN118 – What’s new with NetScaler ADC – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMefjGwRMeU

– SYN121 – What’s new with NetScaler Unified Gateway – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ovb4TIb5JY&t=28s

– SYN115 – Why should I use ShareFile if I already have Office 365? – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kESgKT7_mJw

Innovation Super Session
Awaiting for the on-demand video publication but for now I will leave you with the following Tweet as a thought or rather a reminder to make sure that you watch it if you missed it!

Synergy 2017 Advocates Blog Posts
Citrix Synergy 2017 – It’s a Wrap – See all the most important announcements listed here! By Christiaan Brinkhoff. – https://blog.infrashare.net/2017/05/29/citrix-synergy-2017-its-a-wrap-see-all-the-most-important-announcements-listed-here/

Think Workspaces not 1995?

The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix

Why
We now live in a world or era that is always on, digitally connected and contextual.

Users demand the same if not a BETTER user experience (UX) in there workplace or workspace environment as there UX at home with on-demand content, fibre broadband e.t.c is simple, fast, efficient, rich with an HD experience.

Deploying a next generation workplace strategy today in 2016 and beyond is fundamentally as critical as e-mail, unified communications e.g Skype4B vs. deploying your IT infrastructure for business continuity purposes in the unlikely event that disaster strikes.

Comparing The Same Holiday 21yrs Apart
So you maybe thinking well I don’t really gain anything from deploying a next generation or workspace in 2016 right?

Here is one of my own personal comparisons or one of the many ways I describe my workspace which for me is a mobile workspace.

It’s 1995 your on holiday with friends and family at the seaside and you want to watch a video at your seaside holiday home so you goto the video store and browse the movies by genres, select a few and perhaps buy some popcorn (fav your choice of course) and then rent a TV along with the VHS player. You take it home plug it in and watch the first movie happy times! It’s time for a quick comfort break select another bag of popcorn before starting the second movie and sure enough your off in 10-15 min more happy times!

It’s now 2016 this time it’s you on holiday at the seaside with your own children and there friends but there is NO video store anymore or you just don’t care to go out so instead your checking for 3/4G or Wi-Fi connectivity and how good it is, which you sort out some how 🙂 and now your browse then stream a few movies from the movie store on your tablets in some app (kids vs. you) and within a few min the kids are quiet and your off to the kitchen to microwave some of their favourite popcorn which your previously bought on the way at the supermarket to your holiday destination which now also equals happy times!

Outcome
Ultimately both holidays provided that feel good feeling with different but Rich & also HD experiences for there respective times but in today’s world we need to allow users to be agile, dynamic in the way that they want to work but still provide that UX that meets the old workplace or holiday experience along with today’s new digital rich & HD experiences.

What am I saying here?*

You need to bridge the divide or gap so to speak between those comming into the workforce today vs. those exsiting by implmenting a *software-defined workplace to enable workspaces that blend the best of 1995 and 2016 experiences together but working together smarter e.g use secure electronic form apps powered by EMM with workflows on a tablet vs. paper based static print outs (http://thinkbeforeprinting.org/) with comments on the side of the paper or the back which is then scanned to be sent via e-mail at the office.

Now you can fill-in the electronic form over a cup of coffee with your customer along with other employees at their premises discussing how much faster this process now is vs. the paper based approach over the telephone while you were back in the office and then coming to visit them once they downloaded the e-mail and scanned attachment on dial-up the previous day!

You could also undercover new business while building a better and stronger customer relationship. Finally if my holiday comparison between 1995 vs. 2016 to embrace a workspace doesn’t make sense to you then I’d encourage you to watch the embedded video below.

Citrix Helps You Say Yes